Today in History

Today is Tuesday, July 5, the 187th day of 2016. There are 179 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight: On July 5, 1946, the bikini, created by Louis Reard, was modeled by Micheline Bernardini during a poolside fashion show in Paris.

On this date:

In 1687, Isaac Newton first published his Principia Mathematica, a three-volume work setting out his mathematical principles of natural philosophy.

In 1811, Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.

In 1865, the Secret Service Division of the U.S. Treasury Department was founded in Washington, D.C. with the mission of suppressing counterfeit currency.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act.

In 1940, during World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France broke off diplomatic relations.

In 1947, Larry Doby made his debut with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in the American League.

In 1948, Britain’s National Health Service Act went into effect, providing publicly-financed medical and dental care.

In 1954, Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee; the song he recorded was “That’s All Right.”

In 1962, independence took effect in Algeria; the same day, civilians of European descent, mostly French, came under attack by extremists in the port city of Oran.

In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Cape Verde Islands officially became independent after five centuries of Portuguese rule.

In 1984, the Supreme Court weakened the 70-year-old “exclusionary rule,” deciding that evidence seized in good faith with defective court warrants could be used against defendants in criminal trials.

In 1991, a worldwide financial scandal erupted as regulators in eight countries shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Actress Mildred Dunnock died in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, at age 90.

Ten years ago: Enron founder Kenneth Lay, who was facing decades in prison for one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, died in Aspen, Colorado, at age 64. (As a result, Lay’s convictions were vacated.)

Five years ago: A jury in Orlando, Florida, found Casey Anthony, 25, not guilty of murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the 2008 disappearance and death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

One year ago: Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected demands by international creditors for more austerity measures in exchange for a bailout of their bankrupt economy. The first pope from Latin America, Francis, landed in Ecuador, returning to South America for the first time bearing a message of solidarity with the region’s poor. The United States won its third Women’s World Cup title and first since 1999 with a 5-2 victory over Japan behind a first-half hat trick by Carli Lloyd.

Thought for today: “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” — Cecil Beaton, English fashion photographer and costume designer (1904-1980).